Zarif blasts ‘surrealism’ guiding US foreign policy

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif condemns the “surrealism” informing the US’ foreign policy after his American counterpart accuses Tehran of violating the very UN Security Council resolution that Washington is in breach of.

“‘Surrealism’ is now the US’ modus operandi in its foreign affairs,” Zarif tweeted on Sunday.

Earlier, Mike Pompeo had accused Tehran of testing a missile “capable of carrying nuclear warheads” in violation of Security Council Resolution 2231.

The resolution — which represents a nuclear agreement signed between Iran and other countries, including the US, in 2015 — bans all activity relating to “nuclear-capable” weapons. Iran does not engage in any such activity, something that has been verified on many occasions by the UN nuclear watchdog.

Washington itself started breaching the resolution in May after it left the nuclear agreement. In the following months, it took further steps in breach of the resolution by restoring the sanctions that had been lifted under the agreement, and even threatened the countries potentially ignoring the bans with “secondary sanctions.”

“While itself violates UNSCR 2231…, it (the US) now falsely accuses Iran of violating the very same resolution,” Zarif wrote.

Referring to the US’ warning against the countries that could break the bans targeting Iran, he reminded that Washington now “even threatens to punish those who don’t wish to violate it in abiding with illegal US sanctions.”

The top Iranian diplomat incorporated #Hypocrisy at the bottom of his tweet.

Pompeo talk ‘paradoxical’

Earlier in the day, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Pompeo was talking in “paradoxical” terms since he had predicated his remarks on a resolution that the US itself had contravened.

Qassemi also repeated the country’s assertion that the Iranian missile program was entirely defensive in nature.

He asserted that Iran had to equip itself with “whatever it needs to defend itself” in the light of the past and ongoing tensions in the region, and its own past experience of coming under an imposed war by Iraq.

The official, meanwhile, reminded that the missile program was a matter of the Islamic Republic’s own discretion. “We do not take advice on our missile policies from others, and view the matter in the light of our own defensive preferences,” he said.

The spokesman said the US was trying to adversely affect Iran’s current relations with the international community, especially Europe, in line with its policy of Iranophobia.

US arming Yemen terrorists

In a separate tweet, Zarif remarked about a recent report by The Guardian that showed weapons supplied by the US and Britain had “fallen into” the hands of splinter groups in Yemen, “some with links to al-Qaeda and Isis (Daesh).”

“Complicity in Saudi & UAE war crimes with arms, intel & logistical support apparently not enough. US also proliferating advanced weapons to extremists including al-Qaida & ISIS (Daesh),” the foreign minister wrote.

The US and Britain have been generously arming Saudi Arabia and its allies since the 2015 launch of a brutal Saudi-led invasion against Yemen.

The countries also provide the invasion, which seeks to restore the impoverished country’s former Riyadh-backed officials, with logistical assistance, including bombing coordinates.

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